A few years ago, as he released one of several albums combining his poetry and music, John Sinclair explained that, “I'm trying to do it while I'm here, so when I go, I'll feel like I left it behind way I wanted,” he said. “I've always approached every thing I do as if it were the last, like every day as if it were the last. I'm kind of existential in that way.”
Sinclair — who died Tuesday morning (April 2) of heart failure at Detroit's Receiving Hospital at the age of 82 — parlayed that existentialism into a storied career. Poet, writer, author, critic, scholar, activist, recording artist and performer, he was beloved as a raconteur and iconoclast and best known as the original rock band manager MC5 and a marijuana advocate endorsed by John Lennon.
MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, who himself died on February 2, said: “(Sinclair) is one of those 'many things to many people' guys. Advertising sign in 2018. “He's got a lot of passions, a lot of interests, a lot of causes that he upholds… He's not always a saint or the easiest guy to be around, and sometimes we hated him. But I would say he was a mentor and a friend… and he was very instrumental in what MC5 became.”
Grammy-winning producer and Blue Note Records president Don Was, who recorded and performed with Sinclair on numerous occasions, adds that, “To me he was as important and influential as any activist, any politician or any musician. voice of a generation … as such he made the world a better place.”
Sinclair was born in Flint, Mich. and studied at Albion University and the University of Michigan, Flint, from which he graduated in 1964 after working for the school newspaper and serving on the Board of Publications and the Cinema Guild. He went on to Fifth Estate, Detroit's counterculture paper, and Detroit Artists Workshop Press. He wrote about jazz Down Beat magazine, read at the Berkeley Poetry Conference in July 1965, and co-founded it Ann Arbor Sunanother underground paper, in the spring of 1967 with his first wife, photographer Leni Sinclair, and psychedelic poster artist Gary Grimshaw.
Was, who considered Sinclair “one of my heroes,” says Advertising sign that “in the 1960s, culture – art, music, film and poetry – was used as a weapon as part of a global struggle for all kinds of freedom. And in Detroit, John took the lead at the intersection of all of that. I don't think every town had its own John Sinclair. He was a unique character who had that combination of coldness and vision and a kind of underlying energy — along with a sense of playfulness that made it fun as well as serious.”
In the mid-60s, Sinclair met the members of the MC5, who hailed from the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park. Kramer credits Sinclair with helping to further expand the band's musical horizons in the direction of R&B, free jazz and blues. “They were very ambitious, more sophisticated than the usual rock 'n' roll guys in what they were trying to do,” Sinclair recalled earlier this year when Kramer died. “And they were willing to work, as hard as they had to, to become great.”
Sinclair managed the MC5 until 1969, helping the group land their contract with Elektra Records. Working with the White Panther Party, Sinclair also took the band in a political direction, including a performance at an anti-Vietnam War rally that was broken up by the police. The group eventually found Sinclair's politics stifling, however, and parted ways with him.
In 1969, Sinclair was arrested for possession of marijuana after tipping off an undercover police officer and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Abbie Hoffman invoked his name during the Who's performance at Woodstock that summer, and Lennon wrote a song “John Sinclair” to defend his cause. (Appears on his 1972 album Sometime in New York). Lennon and Yoko Ono also played at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally in December 1971 in Ann Arbor, joining a lineup that included Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Phil Ochs, David Peel and others. Sinclair was released three days later after the Michigan State Supreme Court ruled the state's marijuana statues unconstitutional.
“He was the Nelson Mandela of pot, he really was,” says Martin “Tino” Gross, a longtime friend and musical collaborator in Detroit who produced Sinclair's last two albums. Mobile Homeland and Still Filming — for his Funky D Records label. “Take the fall, man — 10 years for two joints. There's an entire (cannabis) industry now that owes him a debt.”
Sinclair also faced charges of conspiracy to destroy government property in 1972, which went all the way to the US Supreme Court and resulted in landmark decision which prohibited the government from using electronic surveillance without a warrant.
After these occasions, Sinclair spent time living in Amsterdam – where he founded the John Sinclair Foundation to advance the arts and media – and New Orleans, where he continued to write and perform. He formed bands, including several iterations of his Blues Scholars, and recorded a number of albums, including the highly acclaimed Guitar Army in 2007. He also hosted shows at the Detroit Jazz Center downtown and launched the Radio Free Amsterdam online channel.
“John was my mentor in '70s self-determination music,” says Detroit musician and label operator RJ Spangler, whose Planet D Nonet collaborated with Sinclair on the Viper Madness album in 2008. “John he really turned us on to the music and culture of New Orleans. we had a great time together in the Big Easy. It won't be the same without him.”
Gross — who like many in Sinclair circles refers to him as “The Chief” — adds that, “If you could hang out with the guy, it was incredible. To experience his love of jazz and what he could teach you within an hour it was amazing.” And, notes Gross, “He never for a second deviated from his path to push back against the Man. John stood up for the downtrodden, as cliché as that sounds. He would support black culture and blues and jazz music and anyone who seemed downtrodden, John was in their corner.”
Sinclair has had poor health for many years, including diabetes, and was admitted to hospital at the weekend to treat a leg wound that had become infected and turned into a septic. He is survived by two daughters, Marianna and Celia. Memorial arrangements are pending.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/john-sinclair-dead-mc5-manager-dies-obituary-1235647609/
